“I hate turkeys. If you stand in the meat section at the grocery store long enough, you start to get mad at turkeys. There’s turkey ham, turkey bologna, turkey pastrami… Someone needs to tell the turkey –
Man, just be yourself.”

- Mitch Hedberg

I’m tired of turkeys, and it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet!

Obviously, Teaball is learning about the holiday and all the fun things that go along with it. Which is. . .um. . .turkeys. Because lets face it, guys, Thanksgiving is NOT a holiday that really lends itself to arts-n-crafts on a toddler level. Actually, to a 2-year old Thanksgiving is one of the most boring holidays ever! No eggs, no candy, no costumes… no PRESENTS! Food is booooring, though T claims to be excited about our ‘feast.’ Still, we’re doing what we can to put some fun into the holiday. And I think we’re succeeding fairly well, even if the excitement level is nowhere what it was for Halloween!

T made the above-picutred craft using wooden clothes-pins (the kind without a spring), feathers, and googly eyes. She had a great time making them, and an even BETTER time playing with them. She does occasionally forget the word ‘turkey,’ which makes me giggle because she always subs the word ‘chicken’ – a word that she is more familiar with. But that’s okay – as long as she’s having fun. At bath time the other night, she asked her dad if she could bring her ‘chicken’ into the tub with her. Silly Puff!

I love watching my daughter while she does her ‘arps n’ craps.’ She gets so focused on what she’s doing. . . intense!

This craft is currently our table centerpiece. Its our ‘Thankful Jar.’ It was made out of an old formula container, and has a hole cut in th’ lid piggy-bank style. At every meal, T and I discus the many things that we are thankful for. We write down a few and drop them into our thankful jar.

If I had thought about it, I might have combined the project above with the project below, as the turkeys turned out so similar. But the next craft is one of the coolest yet – at least as far as Puff is concerned. It’s the craft that keeps on crafting (building motor skills while it’s at it). Because the ‘feathers’ are attached to spring-loaded clothes pins, and so can be removed and replaced again and again – much to the delight of Super Puff!

‘course, it can’t be ALL about turkeys. You gotta have some Indian corn around – it’s an autumn thing after all. We’re focusing on the thankful part of the holiday, and pretty much ignoring the bit about discovering America. Pilgrims are mysteriously absent from our celebrations this year. . . T understands about streets, but her world is still SO small. The idea of countries and continents (or even states) is one that I’m not prepared to boggle her mind with just yet. And so, turkeys it has been. . . But INDIAN corn is something tangible. We see it in the stores, I can explain it to her. She wanted to play with her pony beads that day, so that is how we made our Indian corn!

And since Indian corn is made by INDIANS. . . they can be a part of our Thanksgiving, too.

There was lots more on our agenda for this holiday, hand-print turkeys, wreaths, and yes – even the possibility of a DIY cornucopia. But the sun popped its happy head out for several gorgeous days in a row, and we were busy outside being thankful for the beautiful weather. Puff n’ I are happy to spend as much time outdoors as humanly possible before it gets seriously cold, and I’m tired of turkeys anyway. Well, most turkeys.